Somaliland to Be Part of Ethiopian Grid

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation is planning to put the south-eastern border town of Somaliland on Ethiopia’s grid.

Initial work to install electric transmission lines have been launched in the early although it is not yet known when the Corporation plans to begin electric transmission according to sources.

Ethiopia and Somaliland are negotiating an agreement to establish the conditions on which Ethiopia can supply electric power to capital of Somaliland Hargessa, claimed sources.

It is to be remembered that EEPCo has made arrangements to supply electricity to Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti already in its bid to become a power supplier in the region.

The Ethiopia-Sudan Transmission Line project will be finalized in the first quarter to 2012 at a cost of 41 million US dollars. The 230KV transmission line is expected to be 296KM long.

It is expected that Ethiopia will sell up to 100 MW of electricity to the Sudanese.

Ethiopia and Kenya have also worked out the details of a power supply arrangement  which will require the two countries to construct over 1,000 Kilometers power interconnection lines to facilitate the power supply. It is expected that Ethiopia will construct 443 Kilometers of lines and 612 Kilometers will be constructed by Kenya.

The lines to be built between the two countries will have the capacity to carry 2000 MW. The construction of the interconnecting lines is expected to be funded by the African Development Bank and the World Bank.

The leaders of Ethiopia and Djibouti inaugurated the substation linking Djibouti to the Ethiopian power grid last October.

Source: 2Merkato/Capital